By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi ASK Cheryl Vasconcellos what she most enjoys about her job as the executive director of Hana Health, and there's no doubt pruning, planting and harvesting will be on her list. That's because in addition to her administrative, financial, personnel, marketing, public relations and strategic planning responsibilities for East Maui's only medical facility, she loves to work in the fields of Hana Fresh, its 7-acre certified organic farm.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi While on an all-day hike deep in Molokai's Halawa Valley five years ago, the popular Hawaiian folk singer and musician known simply as Lono ran across a friend, Lawrence Aki, who was guiding a group of visitors on the trail.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi After seeing dramatic news coverage of the 1990 lava flow that destroyed most of the town of Kala­pana in Hawaii island's Puna district, Wai­lana Simcock felt compelled to go there. Then 16 years old and living on Oahu, he was mesmerized by that undeniable display of nature's power.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Even before Lanai Grand Adventures guide Cody Bradford hits the Munro Trail with a group, the clouds captivate him.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Marnie Weeks first came to Hawaii as a 14-year-old visitor in 1961, Hawaiian music and hula in Waikiki were as ubiquitous as palm trees. Entranced, she bought several Hawaiian music records and took them home to Michigan with her.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi During the dark days of World War II, weekend jam sessions were bright times for Henry Kaleialoha Allen's family. Friends and relatives would pack their Manoa home to eat, "talk story," sing and play music until the wee hours of the morning, including Albert Merseburgh, Allen's uncle, who was a renowned steel guitar artist.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi A few of us were jamming around the campfire around 2 a.m. We’d been at it for hours, and it seemed we had played every song that we knew. I expected we’d all be headed to our tents fairly soon.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Bluegrass traces its roots to the traditional ballads and lively jigs and reels of English, Scottish and Irish immigrants who settled in the rural Appalachia area of the United States (southern New York to northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia) in the 18th century. Influenced by African-American blues and jazz, it is played on acoustic (unamplified) string instruments, including the fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Musicians take turns playing and improvising the melody, while the rest of the group provides accompaniment.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Waialua residents will be the first to admit their town is not a happening place; the biggest event of the week might be an exhibit of local art at the public library. But that's precisely why Kyoko Johnson and her husband, Tor, decided to live and work there.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Clifford Naeole's life-changing story begins in the kalo loi (taro patches) of his paternal grandfather, whom he lovingly nicknamed "Granddaddy Mauka."
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi For 70 years, from 1922 to 1992, pineapple was the economic backbone of Lanai. At the peak of production, from the 1950s to the 1970s, the island gained renown as the largest pineapple plantation in the world.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Start with a Segway Personal Transporter — that ūber-cool, two-wheeled "people mover." Blend in the beautiful rain forest, waterfalls, streams, plants and flowers of Botanical World Adventures on Hawaii island's lush Hamakua Coast.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Janet Leopold moved to Kauai from Los Angeles in 1988, she knew it was also time to make a big career change. She had worked in the corporate world for 16 years; in her new island home, she wanted to do something she was passionate about.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Jeff Living-ston went home for the very first time, a Lionel train set was waiting for him — a “welcome” gift for the newborn baby from his proud father. Over the years, Livingston’s parents, relatives and family friends augmented his collection, and as that grew, so did his interest in trains.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Ben Dillingham, founder of Oahu Railway & Land Co., built Parlor Car No. 64 in 1900 for his personal use. With a price tag of nearly $4,400, it was the company’s showpiece. Fluted awnings and ornate iron grillwork adorned the double-size rear observation platform. The interior was constructed of gleaming oak, mahogany and bird’s-eye maple.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In February 2006 members of Malama Hawaii Nei gathered at Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park to help set up for the inaugural Laupahoehoe Music Festival.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The theme of this year's eighth annual Kauai Wellness expo is "Malama Kou Kino" (Take Care of Your Body). Attendees will learn about fitness, nutrition, organic food and gardening and healing therapies from cultures including Hawaiian, Ayurvedic, Chinese and African.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi To the blind man immersed in an otherwise silent undersea world, the sounds were like castanets in a lively paso doble.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Many great ideas have blossomed from a little brainstorming. The Hanohano o Kona (Honoring Kona) lecture series is one of them.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Theo Morrison's parents grew up in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, unable to realize many of their dreams because of the harsh economic realities of the time.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Emanuela "Manu" Vinciguerra enjoyed organic and whole foods long before eating healthy was hip. The sales and marketing director for Kumu Farms on Molokai was born and raised in the town of Chieti in Abruzzo, a beautiful region in Italy between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine Mountains about 123 miles east of Rome.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Lyman House Museum in Hilo declined to take the donation. So did the Kona Historical Society on the other side of Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Growing up next to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in the 1970s, Brad Hayes heard Phantoms, Skyhawks, Sea Stallions and Sea Knights flying overhead throughout the day and night, but he didn't mind. He has been an avid student of aviation history for 35 years.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Mike Carroll's favorite place to paint is on Lanai Avenue, just 30 yards from his eponymous art gallery in Lanai City.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi For 20 years during the holiday season, "Auntie" Josie Chansky's home in Kapaa was one of the biggest attractions on Kauai.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Nick Fidelibus likens wreck diving to a treasure hunt. "It's thrilling, it's fascinating, it's mysterious," he said. "Seeing a plane or ship underwater makes you want to learn more about it.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In the late 1970s, Maui whale activist Greg Kaufman would round up two dozen volunteers to put on annual festivities at Kalama Park in Kihei in honor of Hawaii's most famous winter visitors, the humpback whales.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Kumu Keala Ching hopes kamaaina and visitors will gather at Hawaii island's Makahiki and Healing Garden Festival in the same spirit of peace, gratitude and enjoyment.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Kirk Hendricks, owner of Honolulu Pedicab, describes himself as a "rolling concierge.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The Hawaiian word "ahonui" means "patience" — a fitting name for the spectacular botanical gardens that Jason Robertson and his family have painstakingly sculpted over the past decade out of a once nearly impenetrable jungle.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Conditions were ideal that September 1998 morning, about a mile and a half off the southern shore of Molokai.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Kapeneta “Kap” Suli Teo-Tafiti can scoot up a 40-foot coconut tree in less than 20 seconds — pretty amazing for a 44-year-old guy who has the build of an NFL linebacker.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi After 20 years touring the world as professional dancers and patrons of the arts, Richard Koob and his longtime companion, Earnest Morgan, decided to forgo their hectic lifestyle and settle in rural Puna, along the southeast coast of Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Like most malihini (newcomers) from the mainland, Craig Elevitch grew up eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi At 5-feet-9-inches tall and 150 pounds, Ed Sugimoto is not a big guy, but he's a heavyweight when it comes to rice. The wireless manager for Oceanic Time Warner Cable is crazy about the ubiquitous starch.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Every artist has a special muse. Cynthia Riedel's was an elderly impressionist named Leonard Herbert. During his final years, Herbert's infirmities kept him confined to his Lihue condo most of the time, away from the natural beauty of Kauai that he loved.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Tall, tanned and toned, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was the king of ocean sports in Hawaii. Swimming, surfing, paddling — he excelled at them all and more, and had the awards (including five Olympic medals) to prove it.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In a quiet corner of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens, set in a grove of kukui trees, is a bench dedicated to the late Rene Sylva, a renowned local conservationist. The view from the bench looks into lush Iao Valley, past the garden's most mature collection of native greenery.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi You could say the Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair was Frank Sinatra's lucky charm. In 1952 the legendary crooner hit rock bottom. The movie "Meet Danny Wilson," in which he played the lead, bombed at the box office.